This
newspaper carried a news article last month saying that Nagaland State figures
among the highest per capita health expenditure by the government. That was
surprising when one considers the amount of resources which are actually
available for service delivery. Therefore, it is important to do some analysis
so that we can arrive at some sense of the prevailing reality of the health
budget. For the financial year 2015-16, there was
slashing of the union health budget by 15%. The Lancet reported that as many as
15 national health programs were put under the National Health Mission umbrella
during the year without allocation of even a rupee. The main reason for the cut
was said be the rising fiscal deficit. Another justification given was that the
States were allocated more shares in central taxes (from 32% to 42%). It was
expected that the State will use its discretion and invest this money on
healthcare. The ball for increasing health budget was thrown into the State’s
court. Slashin…